Mid-range · 12-hour walk · Amsterdam
Amsterdam in a day: the Rijksmuseum to the IJ
Two great museums in the morning, Vondelpark for lunch, the Nine Streets and Anne Frank's house, Dam Square, a canal boat and the ferry to the lookout at sunset.
A day in Amsterdam is a question of tickets. The Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh sit side by side and both run on timed entry; the Anne Frank House releases its tickets online six weeks ahead and nowhere else. Get those three and the rest is a walk through the canal ring with a boat at the end of it. Watch for bikes, not cars: the red lanes are theirs.
The route, stop by stop
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Rijksmuseum
The Night Watch at the end of the Gallery of Honour, with Vermeer's Milkmaid a few rooms away. Two hours is the minimum to do the Golden Age properly.
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Van Gogh Museum
Across the Museumplein. The largest collection of his work anywhere, hung in the order he painted it, so you watch the palette brighten in Arles.
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Vondelpark
Lunch in the park, where half the city comes to sit on the grass at the first hint of sun. The pavilion cafés are fine; a sandwich on the lawn is better.
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De Negen Straatjes
Nine short streets crossing the canal ring, lined with independent shops and cafés. Walk them one way and come back along the water.
45 min here Walk here → -
Anne Frank House
The canal house where the Frank family hid for two years behind a bookcase. Left unfurnished, as Otto Frank insisted, and all the more affecting for it.
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Dam Square
The city's founding square, with the Royal Palace built as the town hall in the 1650s. When it is open, the citizens' hall with the world mapped in marble on its floor is worth the ticket.
30 min here Walk here → -
Canal Cruise
An hour on the water through the canal ring, the only way to see the gabled houses as they were built to be seen. The open boats are better than the glass-roofed ones.
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A'DAM Lookout
Arrive by ferry from the previous stop
The free ferry behind Centraal Station takes five minutes across the IJ. The tower's rooftop has the whole city laid out at sunset, and a swing over the edge for anyone who wants it.
60 min here Walk here →
More in Amsterdam
Every walking route in Amsterdam, or the full Amsterdam guide for where to stay and what a day costs.